Visiting exhibition to look at Norwegian law

A MULTI-media exhibition looking at historic Norwegian law is set to open at the Shetland Museum and Archives on Thursday.

The exhibition, called Miserabiles Personae, will explore King Magnus Lawmender’s new law of the land of 1274, and its effect on children and the poor.

The display, which will run at Da Gadderie from 2.30pm on Thursday until 18 November, is being hosted in collaboration with the Norwegian Code of 1274 Project at the University of Bergen and the Norwegian Children’s Museum at Stavanger.

It will feature film and audio, models of people and reproductions of documents from the period.

A seminar about the 1274 law code, led by Professor Jørn Sunde of the University of Bergen, will also be held at the museum on Thursday at 11.00am.

He will also hold a lecture on the same day at the Tingwall Kirk at 7pm entitled The Four Daughters of God in the Law Code of 1274 and their role in local court practice.

The exhibition and events are free entry.

Archivist Brian Smith said: ‘We are delighted to welcome this exhibition after a long period of planning with our colleagues in Norway.

“I am certain that Shetlanders will be fascinated by the account of a legal system which held sway in the islands for 350 years.”